Nova Scotia. Emergency Management Office

Other forms of name:
Nova Scotia. Civil Defence Coordinator (1958)
Emergency Measures Organization of Nova Scotia (1966)

The Civil Defence Act was passed in 1958, mainly to provide for disaster relief, and a civil defence coordinator appointed. In 1964 the act was renamed Emergency Measures Act and in 1966 the coordinator renamed Director, Emergency Measures Organization (EMO). In 1990 the 32-year-old Emergency Measures Act was repealed and replaced by a new act continuing the EMO and modernizing provisions for a prompt and coordinated response to a state of emergency. In 2005, in response to severe weather events over the autumn and winter of 2003-2004, the EMO was again renamed, becoming an office of the public service with its own minister and a chief executive officer. The Emergency Management Office focuses on emergency measures planning and emergency preparedness, response and recovery. In 2011 the Department of Justice assumed responsibility for the Emergency Management Office. In 2014 responsibility for emergency management was again transferred, and emergency management became a division of the newly-created Department of Municipal Affairs.

Notes: Authority record based on Statutes of Nova Scotia: 1958 c. 2, 1964 c. 56, 1966 c. 64, 1990 c. 8, 2005 c. 48, 2011 c. 9, 2014 c. 34.